I went to a PTO meeting once a laid one on them.

Old biddies on the school board said I was wearing my mini-skirt too short and I shouldn't be raising my daughter that way.

Remember those? Going around selling candy bars or magazine subscriptions? The highest sellers can win a prize but more importantly it's to raise funds for field trips or proms or whatever. It can be difficult for an average school to raise the funds they need for these events.

Last night I received an email that had a link in it to auctions that were being held to raise money for an elementary school's PTO for the children's end of the year activities. The school is located in a wealthy town here in CT. When I first opened up the email I thought it was strange they were doing auctions and not the usual selling of candy bars, but let me tell you... they pull out all the stops for these wealthy kids. The auctions were for all these expensive restaurants in town that they're known for, vacations some as long as 2 weeks to places like Mexico & St. James & Florida! They were even auctioning off braces!

I was like WTF... what a difference to every other school I've ever heard of. They have residents who are probably donating their time shares and local restaurants donating big gift certificates. (They have to be big because they charge about $40 a plate.) These well to do establishments in town are doling out gift certificates for clothing, veterinary services, etc...

Then we have schools down in Bridgeport, by the shore, which are so poor they may not even be able to have music and art classes in their schools anymore. The State wants to shift education $$ from the wealthier towns to the poorer towns because of that and the wealthy residents are squawking. It sounds fair to me though. Seems like the parents of these wealthy kids should be able to foot the bill for their child's school activities.

It's all f**king bullshit, the amount of money schools get from school taxes is PLENTY..it's the poor f**king management of that money that's the problem...some schools bought every kid an Ipad...give me a f**king break if kids need $500 ipads when you can get a $80 android tablet just as capable etc...

If schools didn't waste what they have and someone competent was actually appointed to oversee spending AND BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE...fundraisers wouldn't be needed in most cities...sure I understand it in small/rural communities but I'm in the 4th larges city in the US where school taxes are like $5k a pop...chaps my a** when the kids showed up every f**king week with some bullshit School T-shirt for $25 (when it's a $5 T-shirt)...and oooh you have to buy one or the kid will feel left out and be made fun of.

Signed

Outraged in Houston